Halloween

Halloween celebrations last for the entire week at our house. The kids like to have more then one time to dress up in their costumes, and of course having multiple times to get candy sits HIGH with them.
We started the week at the Halloween Party at Grandma Riddle's place. They had a few games, trick or treating and treats.

Then on Friday we had out Halloween Party/lasagna cook off/ trunk or treat/carnival at church. It was such the busy place to be! Rebecca fell asleep on the way and slept the entire time until I took her out of her car seat. It was noisy, hot and she was right next to the line for food and her car seat got hit a few times, and she slept right trough it. The kids played the carnival games and walked away with some very fun bird whistles that made a lovely high pitch whistle! The scare of the night came when Ammon disappeared. We searched the building and almost had them announce that he was missing when he was found doing his own cake walk with some other boys in the nursery. It was NOT a funny or cute moment for me-just one of panic.

Ammon showing off his very sugar covered cookie that me made-but didn't eat.

After the carnival/dinner we went out for trunk or treating. Simeon walked with a friend and his younger brother so they were slower and only made it around once. Simeon said they kept losing the younger brother and would have to find him. Corrine went around 2 times with some friends, and Ammon and Rebecca went with mom around once, then Ammon wanted to hand out the treats. He was very particular that he put it in the bucket and you only got 1 - NO coming back!!

Max Hall (BYU QB), A Lemme Leopard, a little Moo-Cow and a Clone Trooper stomped around his halloween.

Halloween day was a blur. In the morning I went to the adult session of Stake Conference. When I got home, Johann left for the leadership session and Simeon went to a bday party. We he got home I left with Corrine for her haircut, and Simeon came home. When we got back we drew our pumpkin faces (we ran out of time to carve them), made mini pizzas, ran to Gr & Gr Smith's and then it was time to trick or treat. We don't get many if any kids at our house, so we left a bucket or candy and went out.

Every year we've heard about a house that goes all out with a pirate boat in their yard. This year we weren't going to miss it. We headed down towards it and spent the next 2 hours trick or treating. The kids wanted to come home and we did-the longer way. Their baskets were nearly overflowing when we got home.
Ammon was funny towards the end. People would say take a few pieces so he'd go Hi-yay and grab with 2 hands. Who could say no to a clone trooper going hi-yay!! He added extra candy doing that.

After the sorting and counting they crashed for the night.

Corrine's new hair style

BEFORE

Corrine has been asking for bangs and shoulder length hair for some time. I figured she was old enough to decide on weather or not to go back to bangs and she decided it was time. (Mom on the other hand wasn't so ready. It's been 18 years since bangs for me!) I was ready though for the straggly uneven mom cut hair cut of a year or so ago to go.

I had a coupon and was ready for a $9 haircut.

We got there and I saw that the back of her hair was knotted really bad. The lady cutting her hair looked at it and said we need to shampoo it to get these tangles out. During the shampoo we found out how they got there.

A younger brother + wet sucker + twisting + not brushing it that morning + fine hair= MAJOR TANGLES.

The lady wasn't even sure she could get the tangles out. 20 minutes, lots of combing and conditioner and the tangle was out-no need to cut it out. Thank goodness!

After the haircut she got a sucker which she was told to NOT let it get near her hair. She agreed to that one and to tell me if her loving brother ever came at her with a wet sucker again!!

AFTER

Corrine is really excited about her new hair cut. She kept saying today it's my 1st day with my new hair cut. Tomorrow will be my 1st full day with my new hair cut! She wanted Monday to come so she could tell and show all her friends at sschool.

So in the end the total for the haircut was $16. $9 for the cut, $3 for the shampoo and $4 tip for the amazing lady who saved Corrine's hair.

Ammon and Lego's

What would our house be like without Lego's and lego people? For Ammon it would probably be down right dull!



A few weeks ago after looking at a Lego catalog, we decided to find and put all of our lego people back together. To accomplish this we had to dump out the BIG box of legos and sort all of them- people and non people. Then dad put the people back together-heads, bodies, arms, hands, legs and feet. Accessories like helmets, hair, weapons and armor stayed off to be put on as needed later on.

In the end we had 42 completeled lego people or clones with a few unfinished ones left over, and more accessories then a large army could use.



He can spend an hour or 2 just playing with his lego people. He'll play games with them and have them go into battles where sometimes the clones win and other times they all die. He makes ships, some elaborate, some simple, with a dozen guys each on them. He know who is who and what they do and do NOT do! Sometimes he's playing by himself, and other times Simeon joins him. Either way-lego people are a HUGE hit in this house!!



And he is really good about cleaning them up. They have thier own special container so they don't get mixed up with the other legos.

100 Days to Dance Marathon Celebration

For years DM organizers have wanted to throw a party 100 days until the Big event and this year they did. We were invited to come to the party. There of course was music, students and energy-LOTS of energy.
Miss Iowa and Miss Teen Iowa were judging a dance contest. When I told Simeon about it, he started busting some pretty cool moves. He was having such a great time dancing that he went up on the stage to show off his moves. He had all the students cheering him on. Corrine went on the stage, but she choose to stand and watch and not dance herself.



Ammon was being really shy and not talking and interacting with the students until one girl spent a long time just playing with him and he finally opened up. After that he was a non stop energy ball. He joined all the glow necklaces to make a GIANT lasso to catch dad with.

Rebecca enjoyed watching all the students, but she wouldn't smile while we were in the dance hall. As soon as I took her out she'd give me huge smiles. She wasn't crying, just taking it all in. Perky came over to meet her a few times, and she would grab the fur on his hand and pat it.




As part of the night we were introduced on stage just like they do at the BIG Event.

All night Simeon watched students do the cash machine and he wanted to give it a try. The students were entered in a raffle if they did it, but the kids just got to have fun in it.

Primary Program

The theme for this years program was 'Families Members have important responsibilities."
Corrine was the 1st person to speak, followed by Ammon and a few kids later was Simeon.
Corrine had a long part which she had almost completely memorized. We made a sheet that she could look at the remember the words.
Corrine's part: "Family Members have important responsibilities. 'Organize yourself, prepare every needful thing, and establish a house. A house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God.' D&C 88:119 Families work better when everyone does their part. What are your responsibilities?"

Ammon's part: "I brush my teeth and get myself dressed."

Simeon's part: "In our family we have jobs that we need to do everyday like emptying and loading the dishwasher. If we didn't do our jobs then we wouldn't have clean dishes to eat with. A few weeks ago we started earning warm fuzzies. When we do our jobs without being asked, say kind words to each other or help a sibling with their jobs, we gets to put a warm fuzzy in the jar. The jar sits on the kitchen table to remind us to do our part in our family."

During the program Ammon got restless and wanted to see who was speaking, and since he was sitting in front of the pulpit, he did what made since to him-he stood on his chair and tried to see who it was!!

Pumpkins

This fall we just couldn't make it to a pumpkin patch on a dry sunny day, so we did the next best thing-we went to the Hyvee pumpkin patch.

Hyvee had alot of pumpkins on the far side of their parking lot by a fence and tree. I figured that I could take some pumpkins out and put them by the tree and pose the kids by them and take some pictures. When we got to the pumpkins Simeon found a crate that was cut open so they all climbed inside of it.


I was excited that I could get pictures of them and that you couldn't even tell they were at a grocery store.


Next year we'll hopefully get to a pumpkin patch, but if we don't we know where to get a picture!

Fall Colors

This year we are having the most beautifully colored leaves in our yard. In years past the tree in the front has had purple/brown leaves that fell that color. This year is something brand new and more beautiful then ever. The leaves started brown, then turned purple, then green, then yellow, and once they've fallen off the tree they are turning orange. When the sun is shinning brightly the girls bedroom has a golden glow to it from the leaves on the tree. It is just beautiful!

The Japanese Maple in the backyard has turned to fire red color.

The bush on the side of the yard is multicolored from yellow to red.



Fall is my favorite time of years for the beuatiful colors and the crisp air.